Archives for 2017

Rescue workers race to find survivors after deadliest tremor in 32 years kills 217 in central Mexico.

by Elizabeth Melimopoulos & Ali Rae, Al Jazeera

Mexico City, Mexico – Fabiola Luna Rios was in her house in the southern part of this city when Tuesday’s earthquake struck.

“This was a horrible experience,” the 47-year-old told Al Jazeera as she sat with her husband, Jesus Alberto, on Obregon Avenue on Tuesday night.

“I really felt panic,” she said. “I went out to the street, but when I saw my house, I saw it moving left to right.”

Alberto, who was in Mexico state at the time, added that he thought “the ground was opening up”.

“I felt houses were falling and for two seconds, I thought we would die,” he told Al Jazeera.

The 7.1 magnitude earthquake, which struck shortly after 1:00pm local time (18:00 GMT), caused dozens of buildings to collapse and sent residents fleeing to the streets.

By midnight, at least 200 people had been killed across central Mexico, including more than 20 children who died after their school building collapsed.

Officials said the the death toll was expected to rise.

Luis Felipe Puente, the director of the government’s civil protection service, tweeted that the death toll was at 248 just after midnight on Wednesday.

Later on however, he lowered the number to 217, giving no explanation for the lower toll.

At least 86 deaths were reported in Mexico City and its surrounding areas. In the state of Morelos, directly south of the capital, 71 people were killed.

Another 43 people were reported dead in the state of Puebla, about 122km from Mexico City and the location of the earthquake’s epicentre.

In Mexico state, he said 12 people were killed, while four died in the state of Guerrero. One person was killed in Oaxaca state.

Scenes of chaos and destruction were seen across Mexico City, as rescue workers and others raced to find and help survivors still trapped under collapsed buildings.

It was the second earthquake to strike Mexico in less than two weeks. The first tremor – a powerful 8.1-magnitude earthquake – hit southern Mexico on September 7, killing at least 98 people and destroying and damaging thousands of homes.

‘This was way stronger’

For those who were alive in 1985, Tuesday’s quake brought back familiar feelings experienced during the devastating earthquake that killed some 10,000 people exactly 32 years ago.

“This is not the first time I’ve felt something like this,” Luis Alvarado, 39, told Al Jazeera from the neighbourhood of La Condesa in Mexico City.

“I witnessed the one in 1985 and the feeling wasn’t very different,” he said.

Maria Irene Pies, who lives in the La Roma neighbourhood, agreed, but said she felt Tuesday’s quake was much stronger.

“I was here during the 1985 earthquake, but I felt this was way stronger,” the 73-year-old told Al Jazeera.

“I was in my house when the earthquake started and it was really strong,” she said.

“Mirrors started falling, the furniture started moving.”

Pies, who lives near a medical laboratory, has been told to stay away due to fears that chemicals may have spilled during the tremor.

Like many others in Mexico City, she has moved to the streets over worries of aftershocks.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who said on Twitter that he had been flying to Oaxaca went the tremor struck, returned to Mexico City on Tuesday afternoon where he called an emergency meeting.

In a tweet, he warned Mexicans to “review the damage, disconnect the lights and turn off gas” before returning to their homes.

He also visted the site of the collapsed school where the pupils were killed. Thirty-eight remained missing.

Officials gave out the numbers of shelters and hostels for those needing a place to stay.

‘We are united’

Fernando Irando, who also lives in Mexico City, said that while he is used to earthquakes, “this [one] went above and beyond” any he has felt before.

“I think the city resisted it and I think there will be aftershocks and I hope we will be able to resist it,” the 61-year-old told Al Jazeera.

Just after nightfall, rescue workers and residents continued to search for those who were trapped under rubble.

In the neighbourhood of La Roma, residents desperately called for help, asking friends and family to bring medicine, food, water, lamps and batteries to help rescue workers and those still trapped under collapsed buildings.

“There are people trapped among the rubble and we are trying to give all the support,” Ana Marina Orenday Porras told Al Jazeera.

“Colonia Roma [Street] is devastated,” she said, referring to one of the main avenues of Mexico City.

“As we walked around, we realised that many buildings have fallen and many are about to fall, and we are trying to give all the support we can, as citizens, because authorities can’t cope with the size of the disaster.”

Back on Obregon Avenue, Rios and Alberto, said that unlike in 1985, they felt people were better equipped to react to a tremor this size.

“This time, I feel that people were more helpful [than in 1985],” Rios said.

Alberto agreed, adding “after all, we are all Mexicans and we are always united”.

Refugees reject Aung San Suu Kyi’s claim that Rohingya are safe in Myanmar, as Amnesty accuses her of victim blaming.

by Al Jazeera

Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar have dismissed leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s stated concern over their plight, as activists accused her government of “burying their heads in the sand” over violence tearing through Rakhine state.

In a sprawling and squalid camp on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, Rohingya refugees on Tuesday rejected Aung San Suu Kyi’s claim that many members of their minority group were safe in Myanmar and said her vow to repatriate displaced Rohingya carried no weight.

“Suu Kyi is a traitor. We can’t rely on her words,” said Sultan Ahmed, who arrived in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh along with hundreds of thousands of refugees two weeks ago.

The 80-year-old told Al Jazeera that he did not believe the de facto leader would act on her words because “everything is run and decided by the army”.

Aung San Suu Kyi “is only a name there. Nobody cares about her,” he said.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has faced fierce international criticism for saying little about the abuses faced by the Rohingya.

She broke her silence on Tuesday, condemning “all human rights violations” in Rakhine State, and vowing to take action against those who commit abuses.

However, she failed to comment on the military offensive that sent more than 420,000 Rohingya pouring across the border into Bangladesh, an operation the UN has branded as “ethnic cleansing”.

Abdul Hafiz, a Rohingya man in Kutupalong, was angered by Aung San Suu Kyi’s implication that Rohingya were themselves responsible for their plight.

Aung San Suu Kyi had said more than half of Rohingya villages were not affected by the violence, and invited diplomats and observers to visit those villages so they could learn why Buddhists and Muslims “are not at each other’s throats in these particular areas”.

“Let them see the plight of the people there,” Hafiz told the Associated Press news agency.

“They have kept people in confinement. Let the world media know from them whether we are tortured or living in joy.”

Shah Ahmed, a 60-year-old refugee who fled Maungdaw in northern Rakhine State two weeks ago, said he also no longer trusted Aung San Suu Kyi.

But he told Al Jazeera he was ready to return to his village if her government would “ensure peace, our safety and return of our property”.

Mixed responses

Human rights groups were sceptical too, criticising Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to condemn the army’s alleged abuses, as well as her claim that army operations had ceased on September 5.

“While it was positive to hear Aung San Suu Kyi condemn human rights violations in Rakhine state, she is still silent about the role of the security forces,” Amnesty said in a statement.

“Aung San Suu Kyi today demonstrated that she and her government are still burying their heads in the sand over the horrors unfolding in Rakhine State,” the rights group said.

“At times, her speech amounted to little more than a mix of untruths and victim blaming.”

Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch, referring to Aung San Suu Kyi’s assertion that military operations had ended, asked: “If that is true, then who is burning all the villages we’ve seen in the past two weeks?”

He said satellite images showed about half of all Rohingya villages had been torched and it was time that Aung San Suu Kyi, the government and the military faced the fact that the security forces “don’t follow a code of conduct and shoot and kill who they want”.

Ronan Lee, a Rohingya researcher at Deakin University, said Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech was “deeply concerning from a humanitarian point of view”.

It was likely to provide the military with “genuine solace and certainty that she will not call on them to stop what they are doing,” he told Al Jazeera from Melbourne.

Meanwhile, foreign diplomats who were present in Naypyidaw as she gave her speech gave an overall positive reaction to her address.

The ambassador of China, Hong Liang, welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech saying it would improve understanding. Nikolay Listopadov, Russia’s ambassador to Myanmar, said there was no evidence of ethnic cleaning.

Mohammad Sufiur Rahman, Bangladesh’s ambassador to Myanmar, said: “I simply say one thing, that whatever she said is encouraging and we have to implement that in the right spirit.”

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy also attended the address but did not comment.

Additional reporting by Saif Khalid in Cox’s Bazar. Follow him on Twitter @msaifkhalid